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Prison officials under scanner

Sabarmati Jail staff came under the police scanner on Tuesday in the wake of the daring jailbreak attempt by inmates on Sunday. “The fact that the tunnel digging work was going on without being detected for two months, there seems to be some alleged lack of transparency in patrolling and administration by the Sabarmati Central Jail officials, which we will investigate,” said a senior official of the Detection of Crime Branch. - PTI

Special Correspondent adds:

The 14 accused in the 2008 Ahmedabad serial blasts case lodged in the Sabarmati Central Jail tried to burrow their way to freedom but policemen deployed inside the premises discovered the half-complete 18-foot tunnel dug by them and nipped the breakout attempt in the bud, as briefly reported on Tuesday.

Authorities said some inmates behaving in a suspicious manner near the jail garden gave the game away.

The inmates of barrack No.4, called
Chhota Chakkar
, tried to dig the tunnel close to a toilet next to the garden where they used to work for three hours daily and washed their utensils. Three of the accused are qualified engineers. The tunnel had a five-foot-wide opening and ran parallel to a drainage line. The escape bid has brought to light the poor monitoring inside the prison which houses 3,700 inmates, 900 more than its capacity.